Game of Thrones season 6: Emilia Clarke rebels against 'gratuitous' and 'unsubtle' sex scenes

Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons, on Game of Thrones HBO

Emilia Clarke might have been seen breastfeeding dragons and emerging completely starkers from a fire, but the Game of Thrones actress has revealed that she "can't stand" sex scenes.

Clarke plays major Iron Throne contender Daenerys Targaryen on the hit HBO series, which has a reputation for not shying away from explicit moments.

The 28-year-old told showrunners two years ago that she would not be taking part in any more topless shots because she "wanted to be known for her acting, not her breasts", according to co-star Oona Chaplin.

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Shocking Game of Thrones scenes

Shocking Game of Thrones scenes

1/9
Sansa/Ramsey rape scene

Season 5, episode 6: Fans were outraged as the episode ended with Sansa Stark being brutally raped by her new husband, Ramsey. The camera soon panned to Theon as he watched on, terrified.

HBO

2/9
Shireen burns at the stake

Season 5, episode 9:Stannis burns his daughter Shireen at the stake after Red Priestess Melisandre advises him to make a sacrifice to gain more power

3/9
Theon gets his penis chopped off

Season 3, episode 10: While being tortured by Ramsey, Theon Greyjoy goes through all sorts of pain. The most horrible though is when his penis is cut off and then sent to his family.

YouTube

4/9
George Bush’s head on spike

Season 1, episode 10: According to the directors, they couldn’t get enough prosthetic heads made up for the show and ended up using the spare one’s lying around. One of those just happened to be the fake head of George Bush, which eventually ended up on a spike.

YouTube

5/9
Joffrey murders two prostitutes

Season 2, episode 4: In one of his most violent moments, Joffrey finds himself with two prostitutes in his room and the most disgusting thing he can think to do with them, uses them as living targets.

YouTube

6/9
The Red Wedding

Season 3, episode 9: It was the turning point for the entire show. Just as everyone thought it was going the Starks way, they nearly all end up murdered in one of the bloodiest episodes of any TV series ever.

HBO

7/9
Rat torture

Season 2, episode 4: Torture is a pretty common occurrence on Game of Thrones, but none were quite a bad as this. In the scene a bucket of rats is put to a man’s chest and then heated up with a flame so they must eat through the man to escape. Terrifying.

YouTube

8/9
Mountain head explosion

Season 4, episode 8: Just as everything was going Oberyn Martell’s way, it all literally blew up in his face. The warrior ended up looking like a squashed watermelon in one of the most awful scenes in the entire series.

9/9
Theon botched beheading

Season 2, episode 6: Beheadings: In one of the more gruesome beheadings, Theon strikes Ser Rodrick Cassel not just once but four times in the neck, finally taking it all the way off with a kick.

Now, Clarke has once again pushed for sex scenes to be made "more subtle". "I'm British, so I cringe at that sort of thing anyway - I can't stand it," she told the Daily Mail at a Mayfair event. "I don't want to have sex thrown in my face and I've always thought the suggestion is so much more titillating than the act itself.

"Most sex scenes you see in films or on TV are gratuitous and they're usually just to attract an audience. On screen, the subtler the better."

"I really wanted to work with [director] Sam Taylor-Johnson because she's f**king amazing, but there is a huge amount of nudity in the film," she said, adding that she will "never say never" to nudity but thought she might "get stuck in a pigeonhole" had she accepted the part.